3rd culture

3rd culture / multi-cultural / racism — 7 Comments
9
Jun 10

All white people are racist

I’ve been tracking the feedback on Toyota’s ad campaign for their Sienna Minivan. They made a commercial featuring a white, suburban family performing a rap parody. Some find it funny. Some find it offensive. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the video titled “Swagger Wagon”:

After watching it and contemplating my thoughts, I must admit that while I don’t see it as blatantly offensive, like as if they used the N-word thoughout the song, I do see it being offensive.

Unfortunately, my lens that I see the world through may be different than yours because I’m Japanese. I grew up having people hate me just because I looked different. After having people call me derogatory names that didn’t even apply to who I was--as if I were Mexican, Vietnamese, Chinese, Native American, etc.--I realized it had nothing to do with me personally, but it had everything to do with the fact that I was not white. So, when people do something that in essence mocks another race/culture/subset then I generally take offense to it. In reality, I rarely see anything overtly done in an offensive manor to African-Americans due to all of the public dialog that has transpired, but I see a lot of subtle racism against African-Americans all the time. I am in the camp that believes there is more to the “Swagger Wagon” video than some other may see at surface level.

After having said this, I will admit that there there are things that will have a similar sense of mockery towards other cultures, such as the movie Malibu’s Most Wanted featuring Jamie Kennedy, the son of a white politician in Malibu that acts as if he were a black rap star living in Compton. However, in watching the movie the mockery is really on Kennedy and the fact that he can never know what it’s like to be a black rap star. The movie doesn’t portray African-Americans as deserving to be mocked. In the end, there are redemptive qualities that reveal why one can be proud of their African-American heritage and why they could (and possibly should) take offense to someone like Kennedy’s character. However, I don’t see any of this in the Toyota commercial. I see it as a sense of trying to take away something that isn’t theirs. Using African-American hip-hop culture as the butt of jokes with Caucasians being the only ones laughing. Think about it. Who actually drives a Toyota Sienna minivan? Yes, it’s mostly a white, suburban, soccer mom demographic. Therefore, that’s exactly who this ad is targeted towards. It’s not a serious attempt at hip-hop such as from Eminem or Mark Wahlberg. No, it’s mockery at its subtle finest. Let’s white, suburban family earning $60,000+ a year have a laugh at the expense of blacks and their hip-hop culture and at the same time somehow find a cool factor in this video. Had the video shown a Sienna with 24″ chrome wheels and the dad been drinking gin from a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag in his left hand while sporting a 9mm pistol in his right hand, I still think white suburbia would laugh, but the rest of us would realize it wasn’t funny at all. Notice how they also seem to go back and forth in their personas--when doing rap they use different voice and posture than when asking each other, “Honey, where are the kids?” There is just enough stereotype missing to be deceptive, yet enough in such things as the arm movements during the rap, throwing dice, and rope chain around the mom’s neck to realize they’re using stereotypes of urban African-Americans in the hip-hop culture. To me, almost every time stereotypes are used, it’s underlying intent is racist…even if only in a subconscious level.

As someone who isn’t a typical white, suburban dad I will agree that I am probably a little more sensitive than you. With all of the prejudice I have faced in my life, I am not bitter or angry. I don’t resent “the man” and I oppose affirmative action. I mean heck, Toyota is a Japanese company and obviously I can’t be racist about people from my own ethnicity, but it’s typical target marketing at the expense of people outside of that target market and I’m not a fan. You won’t find me blasting Toyota and white suburban people that find the video amusing and may even ultimately go buy a Sienna as a result, but I do feel like you should at least know my perspective and why it is offensive. Maybe some day you’ll learn to respect all people, not just those that look like you do, and realize that they have value and deserve respect, not mockery though stereotypes.

For a different view, here is a blog post from James Edwards who shares the perspective that no matter is done, all white people are racist in the eyes of non-whites. For the record, I obviously believe this not to be true: http://bit.ly/b0NAzE

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3rd culture / church / culture / multi-cultural church — 2 Comments
7
Jan 10

3rd Culture Thursday: Why bother?

diversityThe real question is why wouldn’t you? The church tends to follow patterns that have clearly led to growth and decline over the past 2,000 years. Trends change, people change, cultural influences dictate change…eventually the church changes as well. Unfortunately for the church, we tend to be reactive rather than proactive. It leaves us playing catch up and going through a lot of pain in the interim.

With all sociologists in agreement, the United States will have no majority ethnic culture/race by the year 2050. However, here in California, the expectation is that Hispanics will become the majority population by 2020…that’s just 10 years from now! We can look amongst ourselves and see the predominant culture in our churches and believe we are poised to be healthy, large and growing forever, or we can step back and realize that at least in California, by 2020 we won’t be the majority culture in our cities.

In addition to the rising population of Hispanics, did you know that 40% of all Asians in the United States live in California? For those of you not in California, it still means that 60% of all Asians in America live in other states, so they have or will have some impact on the cultural makeup of your city.

Here in Sacramento, one of the big influences I have been seeing is that of Russian culture coming into the city. Recently this group of caucasian people have really begun shaping a lot of the culture here. There are many large Russian congregations and we even have Russian food restaurants. To go with the change, I’ve noticed that at least 1/3 of the items stocked at the local Asian grocery store are now Russian. While these people may blend in at the local church because they are white, culturally they are not your average Sacramentan. They have a different cultural heritage and are bringing its influence into our city unlike anything I’ve experienced in the past 39 years I’ve lived here.

You see, with everyone around you coming from a different cultural background, it’s easy to go about being the church of the majority while you’re the majority. When the day comes that you are not the majority, what do you do? When the mantra of being racially diverse in your church never materializes, yet you see new churches all around you that are not just diverse racially, but diverse culturally, do you move to join them or hang onto to your dying ways as the new minority?

To repeat Dave Gibbon’s definition of third culture (which i use solely for the standpoint of the local church): “Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” there is pain and discomfort that comes with being a third culture church. You have to set aside some things you like for the sake of experiencing other cultures. Without pain and discomfort, rarely is growth possible. We all chant about how Christ has transformed us and that we love everyone because he first loved us. However, when we are an inclusive group of people trying to invite others that looks like us to our party, yet we play only the music we like, only serve the food and beverages we enjoy, talk about the suburbia which we worked hard to obtain, how can we expect others to connect with what we are selling? Yes, when we talk about reaching other people yet do not change to make room for them, we are selling them a bill of goods that isn’t very tasty. We are the salt that has lost its saltiness.

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3rd culture / church / multi-cultural / multi-cultural church / people — 6 Comments
24
Dec 09

3rd Culture Thursday: Multi-Cultural vs Third Culture

There is a lot of talk about being multi-cultural in the church. For some that is a great thing, and for others it puts too much emphasis on race as opposed to who the church should serve. The interesting thing is, the idea of multi-culturalism is mainly thought of only within the predominantly Caucasian church in America. Additionally, when most white church members think of being multi-cultural, the first thought is accepting African-Americans into the congregation, as opposed to Asians or Hispanics. Go outside of the context of the predominantly white church in America and you will rarely hear any discussion about being multi-cultural. What does this say about our church in America?

One of the most common phrases I heard repeated during my time at seminary was, “Sunday’s are the most segregated day of the week.” in reference to churches. Our communities are becoming diverse, our workplace is diverse, yet our churches are not. Why is that so?

I think to be a church of a majority really does a great injustice to those in the minority. It causes those not in the majority to feel uncomfortable. You can cite all of the cases you want of how your church has some diversity in it and that no one looks at the color of another person’s skin–that you all just get along as one happy family. However, in reality, there is a conflict brewing inside of those that are not like the majority.

Let me give you an illustration to consider: You are craving Chinese food so you head over to your favorite, local restaurant only to find it has changed. The sign outside is now written in Chinese. You walk in the door and are greeted to a familiar face you’ve seen before, only she is now welcoming you in Chinese. You head over to your usual table and are handed a menu written only in Chinese. You look around and everyone else in the restaurant is Chinese. The waiter comes over and asks for your order…in Chinese. How do you feel? Uncomfortable? Strange? Displaced? Knowing that you really, really like the food at this restaurant, what do you do? Do you risk trying to explain in English to someone that keeps responding in Chinese? I think what you’d do is go back to your car and go to your second-favorite Chinese restaurant and hope that they still speak English there. In essence, the white church in America is like that Chinese restaurant, but they just don’t realize it. Everything is about the white culture, yet the invitation to reach out to people of other ethnicities is always given. The white church expects those in the minority to come in and assimilate into the existing, predominant culture–like the Chinese restaurant–yet makes no gestures to try and understand the perspective of the minority culture. It’s like the white church says, “Please come to our party. We’ll have music, but you can’t request any songs. We’ll have food, but only if you like meatloaf. We’ll be mingling, but mostly with people we know already.” This is the reality of multi-culturalism. It’s diversity for the sake of looking pretty, but with no respect to the other cultures you are inviting.

Third culture, on the other hand, is not really about attracting people for the sake of looking pretty. It’s about learning more about people of other cultures and finding how we can live life together. It goes much deeper than the color of someone’s skin. It goes to the core of who they are and how they are different. It’s an exploration into why God made us all uniquely individual, coming from different nations to be joined together at that very moment in time. It becomes more of a celebration of us individually and how we can come together collectively in a way that honors God. It lets us be free in the color of our skin and have some security in appreciating our differences rather than seek to homogenize us into the majority. As the working definition from Dave Gibbons of third culture is: “the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” It entails some pain and discomfort.

Continuing with the illustration of the Chinese restaurant. When you go back to your second favorite restaurant and find everyone still speaks English and the food tastes like you remember, you’ll soon come to reflect on why this is your second favorite Chinese restaurant. Either you go on eating average food or you make an attempt to understand some of the language and customs of the people of your favorite Chinese restaurant and begin a process that will allow you be able to eat your favorite food once again. However, as much as you may go through the pain and discomfort of trying to learn the Chinese language and culture at the restaurant, you will most-likely find that they will begin doing the same with you. They will begin to pick up on some of your customs and language. Once you make a commitment to try to learn and better-understand the ways of the Chinese restaurant, the more those in the Chinese restaurant warm up to you rather than look at you as an outsider.

Third culture in the church is a process that begins with a mindset. It takes work, perseverance, steadfastness, and a willingness to get through whatever it takes for the sake of celebrating those things that we don’t know. If we as the church are willing to make some sacrifices in our comfort and not fear the day when we become the minority, but instead choose to celebrate all that outside cultural influences have played in creating this great nation and all that will continue to happen as we embrace each other’s pain and look forward to a better tomorrow, the future will be very bright. Otherwise, the only pain will be the result of internal struggles we all have that never have the chance to come to the surface. This is a pain that shouldn’t be required for us to endure. It’s a pain that can only ultimately be resolved through having the will to love, learn, live, and serve in differing environments that will bring about a reconciliation amongst us, not just a visible patchwork of skin colors.

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3rd culture — 1 Comment
17
Dec 09

3rd Culture Thursday: Who is my neighbor?

[The common theme throughout the 3rd Culture Thursday posts will be the definition of third culture from author & pastor Dave Gibbons: third culture = "the mindset and the will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort."]

One of the reasons why I believe we should operate from a third culture mindset is that it parallels the life of Jesus. We all feel that if we offer a perspective of grace and love to the world that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. Well, this is true to a certain extent, but it fails to acknowledge a core value that Jesus taught and lived out. That is, living out the second Greatest Commandment in the proper context. When we learn that the Greatest Commandment was to love God with everything we have, we get that pretty easily. Then, when we hear the second Greatest Commandment, which is to love our neighbor like ourselves (Mark 12:28-31) we think we get it, but we often-times fail to put two-and-two together. Yes, we are called by Jesus to love our neighbor, but just exactly who is our neighbor?

When you live in a suburban neighborhood with a bunch of middle-class people, you may think you should go knock on your next door neighbor’s door and invite him over for dinner or something. While this may be your neighbor in your neighborhood, Jesus is really calling us to go outside of our neighborhoods into the unknown areas and love people that are not like us. This is confirmed in Luke 10:25-37 NIV:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.‘” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.“

As you probably already know, in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry the Samaritans were a very hated and lowly people in the eyes of Jews. No one outside of Samaria gave them any attention. Therefore, a Samaritan definitely owed nothing to a Jew, nor could he ever expect to be paid back for any good deed. This was a very profound and radical illustration that Jesus delivered in the form of parable that day. When he says, “Go and do likewise.” this is his calling upon each of us as well. We are to love people we don’t know and may not even care to know — love them as we would want to be loved. To follow in the footsteps of Christ will cause us to have: the mindset and the will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort. To follow Jesus is to experience the pain and discomfort of third culture.

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3rd culture / church / culture / multi-cultural / multi-cultural church — 4 Comments
10
Dec 09

3rd Culture Thursday

In response to some things stirring within me, along with the sense that there is some cultural context we are striving to find yet failing in our search, I am devoting my blogspace on Thursdays to what I am calling “3rd Culture Thursday.” It’s an exploration and conversation related to the idea of third culture kids and how we as the church should move towards embracing the concept within our own communities. This whole 3rd culture idea became aware to me from reading Dave Gibbons‘ book: The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership For A Third-Culture Church.

Gibbons defines 3rd culture as:

The mindset and the will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.

A key element to the discussion is this idea of being committed to something while being in the midst of pain and discomfort. It involves honesty, conflict, hard work and an attitude of openness. These are all hard things to deal with on an individual basis, but imagine what life would be like if we were to take them all on once and then some. Imagine the amazing things that come about if we would at least try.

Here’s a video from Dave Gibbons that gives a bit of insight on the 3rd culture mindset:

Does this resonate with you? Are you intrigued? Beginning to feel a sense of connectedness? If so, it is my hope that this forum will help educate and be used as a way to lend a voice to others and engage in some new dialog.

Learn more by visiting Dave Gibbons’ 3rd culture website: http://www.3culture.tv or by reading his book: The Monkey And The Fish. Also, look for tweets with the hashtag #3ct or follow the aggregate list of tweets on twubs.com/3ct as I will be tweeting 140 characters at a time throughout the week to help facilitate better understanding and dialog on 3rd culture.

See you here next Thursday as we kick-off the conversation with a post titled “Who is your neighbor?”

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